How to Get the Best Wedding Detail Photos

March 7, 2018

One of my goals for 2018 was to create more resources to help brides – and photographers – have a smoother wedding day. Today, I’m starting a series of blog posts that provide you with tips of how to help your photographer get the best photos on your wedding day! First up? How to get the best wedding detail photos!

Eight Tips to Help Your Photographer Get the Best Bridal Detail Photos

Make sure you have all of your details collected ahead of time – so you don’t waste any time gathering them the day of the wedding.

Items to collect would include the invitation suite, all three rings (make sure the gentlemen don’t have them in the morning – we need to photograph them!), something old/new/borrowed/blue, perfume, jewelry, shoes, and welcome gifts.

Bring two copies of your full invitation suite (this means envelopes, RSVP cards and envelopes, and any detail cards that you included). This is especially important if anything is double sided or if you have an envelope liner and an envelope with an address. We want to capture all of the goodies!

Bonus points if you get an envelope addressed with a fake address so no one’s personal information is floating around on the internet when we blog… and if you can have a calligrapher address the envelope, that would be incredible!

If you want to take it up a level, you can also bring items from other parts of the wedding day – like menus, place cards, and favors.

Ask your florist for some extra “loose stems” for styling. If you do this, be sure to let your photographer know to expect them so we don’t start styling and are unaware that we have more elements to play with.

Give your photographer time! Detail photos are time consuming! Creating a balance and a flow within an image is not easy. Plus, add in trying to make a ribbon look natural or balancing a ring to show it off at just the right angle…. phew! Talk with your photographer ahead of time about how many details you have so you can manage expectations about how long this part of the day will take.

And what if you’re the photographer? Here are a few tips for you!

Photograph the details on a clean, well-lit surface. I bring styling boards to all of my weddings. I made the myself with a white foam board and some linen.

Photograph each detail individually as well as a compilation of some of them together.

Take vertical photos – blogs love vertical detail photos and they do well on instagram!

I also recommend taking a “clean and organized” photo of the invitation suite as well as a messier one … that way if the lines aren’t perfectly straight in the “clean” shot you’ll still have a great option!

I’ve recently started taking detail photos the day before the wedding. That way I don’t feel crunched for time (I’ve spent more than two hours doing this before….)! Sometimes I head to the hotel room, sometimes I bring all of the goodies back to my place. The only downside is I usually don’t have flowers for these photos, but I can always retake a few images the day of the wedding with the additional flowers.

You can add some depth to your paper goods photos by putting your lens cap or a memory card case under a piece of stationery.

Invest in some of your own “extra’s” – a ring box or ribbon in a neutral color as well as some vintage stamps (you can find them on etsy!).

Take a deep breath. Detail photos aren’t easy. Don’t be afraid to snap an image on your cell phone (I’m not sure why I do that, but it can be easier for me to see that things aren’t aligned) and make adjustments to your setup. Practice, practice, practice!